Page 69 of Delicious (Delicious #1)

Chapter Two

L unch couldn’t come soon enough. I was determined to get to the bottom of who my admirer was, and Steve from marketing always hung out in the main break room at the same time as me. We’d caught up quite a few times, mostly discussing the gay club scene in Philly, since we’d even run into each other at certain ones. I wasn’t as dedicated to going out as he was, but when I was in a dry spell, it usually was my favorite option of finding someone to hook up with.

My palms broke into a sweat as I approached the break room, the noise filtering my way. As much as I could put myself out there on occasion, I never claimed to be smooth. Being the most outgoing guy in the chemical engineering department was like being the best swimmer in the kid’s pool. It didn’t require a lot of effort because you were a freaking adult.

When I stepped into the break room, which was kept in pristine condition, the wall of sound hit me first. Apparently, everyone had decided to eat here today. The big open room with paste white walls and equally white tables could hold a lot of people, but with our hybrid schedule and the general preference to grab lunch out, the break room was never this cram-packed.

Declan and Jacob sat at the table we usually nabbed. Normally, I’d beeline toward there, like high school all over again. However, today I had a different quarry.

Steve stood on the other side of the break room, put-together as usual with his slicked-back brown hair and clean-shaven face. He was deep in conversation with two other people from marketing, although I couldn’t place their names. Both of the girls he talked with were notorious gossips, though. Ugh. My stomach flipped. Maybe this wasn’t a good time to ask him.

Except Steve broke off from his conversation and strode to one of the industrial fridges along the side wall.

Okay, now or never.

I quick-walked over to the fridge, my mind whirring for topics I could somehow pivot back to chocolate and secret notes. My brain was mostly full of the Mr. Rogers documentary I watched last night, which wouldn’t help me with small talk right now. Meow-meow chocolate, meow-meow.

Steve shut the door of the fridge right as I came to a halt in front of him.

He passed me a quick grin. “Hey, Henry. How’s it going?”

The curve of his lips was attractive, but I didn’t know if he smiled at me to be polite or out of interest. Panic signals flared in my brain, and all semblance of coherency evacuated.

“Don’t you just love raspberry?” I blurted out.

Oh no, that was terrible.

Steve stared at me like I was a crazy person. To be fair, the statement had come out of nowhere.

“Like, best flavor ever, right?” I continued to dig my own grave. This was the opposite of smooth.

The genuine confusion on his face sent me one clear signal—this wasn’t the guy who’d dropped off a raspberry chocolate at my desk.

“Not for me,” Steve said. “I’m allergic.”

The idea he might be the admirer deflated like a saggy balloon.

I wrinkled my nose. “Can we forget I said words ever?”

Steve let out a laugh, shaking his head. “Sure, Raspberry Boy.”

“That’s going to be a thing, isn’t it?” I groaned.

He winked and returned to the girls from marketing. I tipped my head back and stared at the ceiling. Right.

I snagged my sandwich from the fridge, trudged over my friends, and plopped into the empty seat next to Jacob and across from Declan. The two of them were half-finished their lunches, while I’d been making an ass of myself.

“You okay there?” Jacob nudged me in the side with his elbow.

I rested my forehead on the cool surface of the table and let out a huff. “Just ruining any social standing I have here, that’s all.”

“Well, that’s not news,” Declan deadpanned.

I lifted my middle finger. “Just because you’re honed in the fires of Brannon family roasting doesn’t mean you need to dole the sass out to the rest of us.” Jacob and I had gone to a Brannon family barbecue last year, and the get-together had been terrifying. A house crammed with a bunch of loud Irish folks bickering with each other. Considering how anti-people Declan tended to be, it was shocking he was able to deal with the chaos.

I heaved another sigh. “Steve isn’t the admirer.”

“Are you upset about it?” Jacob rested his hand on my back, and the weight of it made me want to moan. Clearly, I was in touch starved and desperate mode.

I didn’t respond to Jacob, still processing that Steve was eliminated from my small pool of potentials. “Truthfully, no? Steve’s great and all, but I think we’re too alike.”

Chances were, he was probably a bottom like me, and then we’d be in the Oops, All Bottoms club. On top of that, though, apart from going out, I wasn’t sure what else we had in common. He and I hadn’t clicked on a deeper level like I had with Jacob and Declan.

“Guess I need to find a way to approach the other two.” I still hadn’t lifted my head off the table, but Jacob hadn’t moved his hand off my back either, and I wanted to soak in the touch a little longer. My one-bedroom apartment was lonely as fuck, and while hooking up took the sexual edge off, no one wanted to stick around and cuddle. Which, honestly, was a missed opportunity for them because I was a fantastic cuddler.

“Might want to work on eating lunch before our break’s over.” Jacob gave my back a pat and raised his hand.

I groaned and pushed up from my slump over the table. “Fine, but I won’t like it.”

“Is it because you made a ham and rye sandwich again?” Declan asked, not bothering to glance up from whatever he worked on.

“Okay, Spice Girl, calm the fuck down,” I shot back and bit into my shitty ham and rye sandwich.

Back to the drawing board on my mystery admirer.

The end of the workday hit, and I was no closer to figuring out who had been leaving me chocolates and notes.

I’d even tried sniffing around the cubicles to catch a whiff of chocolate, but all I realized was that most of the employees in chemical engineering needed to take a few more showers.

“See you tomorrow.” I pushed up from my desk. Jacob and Declan were wrapping up, but I didn’t have the time to wait around. I wanted to peek into the accounting department to see if Greg was still there. The embarrassment from lunch lingered too much to go to the marketing department for Denzel and risk running into Steve again.

“Good luck on ManQuest,” Declan said.

“Is that like MapQuest for finding men?” Jacob said.

“Pretty sure that’s called Grindr, babes.” I shook my head and snorted as I headed out for the day. My messenger bag slapped against my thigh. I wasn’t as tall and swarthy as I wanted to be. Whatever, though. I had a cute ass, red hair thick enough to grip, and dimples. Also wildly fluctuating self-esteem, but I cataloged reminders on my good days.

I walked down the hall, which was quieter than normal this time of day. Greg might’ve already left, so this might be a strikeout. However, it couldn’t hurt to peek.

My footsteps echoed through the corridor, which made this place feel like a ghost town. I forgot most of the departments let out earlier than ours did. Plus, the lot of us tended to get so wrapped up in projects that we ended up working overtime. Maybe I should turn around and go home. Yet the note in my pocket begged me to solve the mystery of who’d sent it.

I licked my lips and went to the entrance of the accounting department. Quiet prickled across my skin, but I dipped my head inside.

Greg was still there after hours.

However, he had another guy resting on his lap, and they were currently swapping spit. Hot-as-fuck sight, no lie. Yet disappointment thudded through my veins.

Yet another person to strike off my list.

I shifted to move out of view, but Greg looked up. His eyes widened, and he pulled away from his hottie.

“I…uh…we’re…having a talk.” Greg winced.

Amusement flooded through me. At least I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t think on the fly.

“Looks like you’re talking very intensely,” I called. “I’ll leave you to it.”

I pivoted on my heel and walked down the hall the way I came. Jacob slipped out from the chemical engineering department.

“You’re not out of here already?” he asked.

“Greg’s crossed off the list. And you don’t want to go to the accounting department.”

Jacob lifted his brows. “Is he getting laid back there?”

“Mmm, based on the lap dance his guy was giving him, they’re at least going to move to blow jobs soon.”

“Oh, here.” Jacob handed over a thick book. “I finished it last week, but I forgot to give it to you.”

“It’s okay if it bored you to tears. I know not everyone is a Tesla junkie like I am.” I accepted my treasured copy of Tesla’s biography, which I might’ve read an embarrassing number of times.

“Uh, so am I. I’m just a slower reader.”

“Nothing wrong with that.” I clutched the book to my chest as we climbed down the steps. “Up to an exciting night with Sara?”

Jacob stared at me blankly. “Sara and I split up months ago, Henry.”

When the fuck had that happened? “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I said I was broken up…”

What conversation was he referring to?

Oh, shit.

“Wait, I thought you were upset about pandas.”

Jacob stopped. “Why would I be upset about pandas?”

“I’d been talking about how the panda at the National Zoo died, and you said you were broken up. I figured the panda dying put you in a tailspin or something.” Oh lord. Wow, I was denser than I could ever have believed.

“You gave me a hug and told me it’d be okay. That I’d be able to move on,” Jacob said.

Okay, fair. Embarrassment flushed through me.

“Uh, yeah, I meant about Trixie the Panda. I’d say there would be more zoos with pandas in them, but they’re endangered.” I scrubbed my face, which was burning. “Oh my god, I’m the worst friend. How insensitive did I come across?”

He shook his head. “It was a bit weird you never mentioned it again.”

“Well, why didn’t you bring it up more? I’m clearly denser than a dying star.”

“You’re not wrong.” A wry grin lifted his lips.

“Nuh-uh.” I pointed a finger as we reached the exit. “You’re not about to start ganging up on me like Declan. We already have one Snark Queen up in here.”

He lifted his palms. “Fair, fair. Well, let me know if you’ve got any other good Tesla biographies to share.”

I pushed the door open and held it for him. “Don’t tempt me. I’ve got a whole stack.”

“Send them my way. See you tomorrow, Henry.”

“I’ll see you in the morning.” I marched to my car. I’d had enough embarrassment for one day. Time to pack it in and unwind for the night.

And maybe tomorrow morning, my secret admirer would strike again.